We Dig the Castle 2017

17 July - 18 August

Welcome to our dig diaryMany of the entries and photos on this page have been created by our Explainer volunteers, who are sharing their passion for the history of Nottingham Castle with trainees and visitors

News from the viewing platform from Explainer volunteer MontyGreat day at the dig with the today with everyone carrying out different tasks, tours of the caves and an interesting talk on bones!

The dark layer sitting on the lighter sandy layer is slowly being removed. More of the brick structure was uncovered and cleaned up and the recently discovered layer of mixed rubble and mortar in the eastern extension was extended.

There were a few visitors today who braved the rain, including some from America and Australia who are amateur archaeologists themselves, and a couple from the Netherlands.

Monty Oakley, Explainer volunteer and TPA volunteer

News from the trench from tutor Tristan

It was quite a quiet day on the visitor front with sporadic wind and rain keeping the public at bay. Nonetheless, our superb Explainer volunteer Monty, renowned veteran of many Trent & Peak community digs, spent time with the intrepid few who did brave the elements to have a day out at the Castle.

​​Meanwhile, it was far from quiet in the trench, with the trainees working through a busy day of excavating, recording and workshops. Much of the work was focused on the north end of the trench as we endeavoured to trace the layer of bricks.

Trainees also participated in a workshop on animal bones, and both theoretical and hands-on training in survey from Trent & Peak Archaeology's Tiago. They benefited from the knowledge of our Acting City Archaeologist Scott, who delivered a tour of the Castle, and also received training in drawing. Here you can see our fabulous trainee Lisa with her very first archaeological drawing.

​Although we didn't have an enormous number of new artefacts there were were still lots of clay pipe finds.

We're also seeking help to identify these objects, which are becoming increasingly common finds in the trench.
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They have numbers on the side with fragmentary writing (in German?), show signs of scorching and seem to be made of something similar to a writing stylus.